So the story goes Portland got its name when two men from the Northeast, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove, flipped a coin in 1845. Lovejoy was a lawyer from Massachusetts and he wanted to name the new settlement Boston. Pettygrove was from Maine and wanted to name the new town Portland. Pettygrove won the coin toss two out of three times and that was that. And though both Portland cites are the biggest in each of their respected states, neither are the capital.
It was nice to be settled for the last couple weeks Brian was home. We parked the Hideout at Roamer’s Rest RV in Tualatin, which is about 30 minutes outside the city. We also got reacquainted with Brian’s cousin, Kevin, and his family, Trish, Maddie, Lauren and Davis. As Kevin likes to put it we “power bonded” over the week and a half we were there. We skied, watched the girls' basketball games, toured the city and bonded over local brews. Kevin is a firefighter in Portland so he has a schedule that allows him to have days off in the middle of the week. We took advantage of that and would meet him for lunch or a late night drink. We even got a tour of Kevin’s station. It was my first time in a fire engine and Brian held the jaws of life. We were just as excited as two kids. It was awesome.
Lauren goes skiing with a school group every Friday so Kevin joined as a chaperone and Brian and I met them up there. We had a great time. Brian, Kevin and I skied on our own while Lauren was in her class but we joined with them on a couple runs. Conditions were the same as they were last time, springlike and raining by the end of the day.
Brian and I did a lot of exploring on our own too. We wandered around the Pearl District and had a nice lunch at the Lovejoy Bakery before visiting Powell’s Books, a Portland staple. Another afternoon we spent hiking around Washington Park. The park is known for its gorgeous rose gardens, we’ll have to go back to visit when they are in bloom. I reconnected with my high school friend, Carly, she met Brian and I at the Hair of the Dog Brewery and we chatted about our travels and her past 3 years here in Portland. Brian also met my friend, Pam, who is another observer I worked with in Alaska.
The highlight was a mini road trip we took to the coast. Apart from our normal road trip life, we left the camper at the RV park and just packed our trusty tent and camping gear into the truck. We stopped in Tillamook and visited the notorious dairy and creamery. Continuing up the coast, we stopped again to have some lunch in Rockaway Beach. We watched the seagulls and squirrels roam about the beach while we chowed down some delicious clam chowder from the Old Oregon Smokehouse with a couple cold ones I bought at the convenience store on the corner. We camped at Nehalem Bay State Park. A path through tall dunes leads to a beach that is inhabited by giant driftwoods logs and Piping Plovers. It is so gorgeous. Luckily we had nice weather and enjoyed the sunset between the dunes with wine and salt air.
Leaving the park in the early morn, we continued north and paused in Canon Beach for a cup of joe and a bacon and blue cheese scone (yeah, delicious), and a game of cribbage. After breakfast, we crossed the bridge over the Columbia River into Washington and took a drive to Long Beach. We crossed back over into Oregon and drove through Astoria, where the movie Goonies was filmed. We had some oysters, craft beer and met a couple sea lions at Buoy Beer Co.. From there we headed back to Portland.
Brian is now safely back to the organized chaos on the ship. Back to working 12+ hours a day and routinely navigating from Tampa to New Orleans. The morning Brian left for work, I had mac-n-cheese for breakfast and a pack of bunny gummy fruit snacks and wine for dinner. Back to, what I like to call, single girl living. My freezer will be stocked with frozen pizza for the next 3 months. I, as usual, applied for several jobs in the Northwest area but have not been successful yet. So I’m doing something a little different, I’m going to travel around myself. I’ve already gone back to the coast, back to Nehalem Bay because I enjoyed it so much. From here I am going to head south to another park, Cape Lookout State Park. It is liberating and terrifying at the same time but so far I’m really loving it.
Stay tuned with B&D, we’ll be back on the road together next June and we will be taking on the last frontier, ALASKA.
Right to left - Trish, Maddie, Lauren, Kevin, Davis, Myself, Brian
Chairlift selfie
Skiing Mt. Hood Meadows
New St. Bernard pup at the Timberline Lodge (where The Shining was filmed!)
Me and Carly
mural in the Pearl District
Brian and the jaws of life
Rockaway Beach
Nice memorial, party on, Ed!
This fat squirrel had no shame. He looks like he belongs on the face of birthday card with some bad joke about age.
Next Leg: ALASKA
